I’m one of those people who takes photos of meaningless stuff all the time. And then I go and look at my photos and wonder, “why the hell do I have 8 photos of my Captain Crunch cereal box on my camera?”. I blame it on my continuous need to take the perfect photo (and my brain assumes the perfect photo will be of a cereal box- to be fair, a large quantity of beer was inside me during that photo shoot). The downside of this ongoing quest to channel my inner Annie Lebowitz, is that I end up with a ridiculous amount of photos that serve no purpose- that have no point. They are not particularly clever or pretty- nor do they tell a memorable story. They just take up space on my camera and on my computer.
You see where this is going, don’t you?
I thought so. You always were clever.
Here are some of the pointless photos I’ve taken recently that aren’t worthy of a photo album but that I can’t yet delete without sharing. 
Have you ever wondered what almost $50.00 worth of 50/50 draw tickets looks like? Now you know.
Photo taken in the rain, through a window while trying to console myself over the fact I did not win the 50/50 draw. I was going to make a joke about how those water droplets were my tears at not winning the over $5000 cash prize I was so sure I was going to win, but joking about crying felt a little too close to home. Because I almost did cry.
Meet my driving companion. It’s my Obama air freshener and it’s smells like HOPE. Actually, it smells like vanilla. But I always thought HOPE smelled sweet and almost candy like. I appreciate this photo because for some reason it makes the air freshener look huge. As though I’m dangling a poster sized picture of Obama from my rear view mirror. Not that I’m opposed to such an idea. If I could only find one, I would put it in my car and refuse to let people sit in the passenger seat unless I cleared it with my driving companion. (And yes, I’m fully aware of how comments like that fuel the idea that I am 136% crazy).
Accidentally taken while at a red light while trying to take a photo of my air freshener. The best part of this tale is that after the flash went off, I looked over and the car beside me had two people watching me. So, I looked like a girl who was taking a picture of her crotch at a red light. Awesome.
What do the rest of you do with photos that have no home? Keep them forever or delete?
I delete them. I only keep the photos that I deem perfect. I might take 40 photos in a night but only 10 will survive the cull.
Cut throat. I like it.
I have a gazzillion of the same types of photos. Over my honeymoon I took 6 pictures of Hubs ear, four pictures of the flag outside a red light, and I think its ridiculous. Let’s join a support group. random piture takers anon.
I’m down. We can even organize a snack committee.
damn. but piture. I totally meant picture. wtf is piture anyway?
I burn my “leftover” pictures to a CD, file it away and probably never look at it again. Or upload them to flickr and forget about ‘em :) Cute Obama… I mean skirt!
Oh, that reminds me.. I have a flickr account…
I keep them. Never could delete anything in my life. But I’ve invested on an external hard drive. Hehe.
I should do that!
Hubby does that EXACT thing. He always wants to keep them. I delete them behind his back.
I like that skirt by the way. And hope does smell like vanilla.
Oh thanks! It’s actually a dress. I wear it when I want to pretend I’m Michelle Obama.
I catalog my pictures by month on my computer and then have subfolders with each event/theme. Like January will have 5 folders that say, Peking, DC Blogger Meet-up, Jen’s Birthday… you get it. So if I have extra photos I’ve taken that month I just put them in the January folder. That way they’re there, but not in some weird spot.
Can you move in with me?
So taking pics of your crotch at a red light is NOT normal? Hmm.
It is if you do it. You should post those photos.
Nice legs!
Oh I know.
Um. I love that dress. Or skirt. Or whatever it is.
And I tend to delete them. Unless I really like it. In which case I put it somewhere random.
It’s a dress! And thanks. Hmm, I think I need to start deleting some photos…
keep them! youll look back one day and laugh. Love the skirt!!
Just when I thought I should delete them.. now I think I should save them….
I never delete them. My husband does, and then I get mad. You never know when you might need a picture of an albino duck.
This made me laugh. And rest assured, if I had a picture of an albino duck I would never let it go.
Lady, the photos that I have on my camera are various levels of odd.
I tend to take photos of things because, “oh look, that’s SO ARTSY!” and then end up looking like phallic symbols or finger paintings.
You and me both. Like how many ways can I take a photo of a fence?! Geezus.
Wow I have a billion pictures just sitting around on my camera and my phone. No idea what to do with them. Maybe I’ll have Maxie come organize them for me.
Cute skirt/dress!
Thanks! But I’ve called dibs on Maxie already. I need her help and you’ve already had fun with her. It’s my turn. Whoa. That comment sounded really … weird.
Ha! Love the Obama air freshener! I have an Obama metro card which I don’t use. Afraid I’ll lose it.
I unfortunately keep those pictures, but at some point go through some and delete. Then I get lazy and leave the others. I need to be better about removing the ones that are just, well, junk I suppose? Probably never will though!
Well apparently we all need to get Maxie to come over and she will sort it all out for all of us and we don’t have to worry. I like that idea.
I do the same thing. I end up keeping most of them, for some reason, and deleting them eventually. I mean, they really are pointless (i’m a fan of the “let’s take a picture of rain. Yes. rain sounds like a lovely idea.”
I do like your 2nd picture posted though!
I secretly like it too ;)
I have teh same habit of taking a bunch of photos to get the one perfect one. The problem is that some are so similar that when I download them to view, I have problems deciding which one to keep.
I get that. I currently have 14 photos of me in a leprechaun like hat. Do I need all 14? Probably not, but which ones to delete….
ha! reason #767 that we were separated at birth.
ps- i love your little skirt (dress?)!
I got what you meant, don’t worry. And it’s a dress! And I really love it too. Thanks!
oops, i meant to say the REASON is because i do the same thing.
Oh I keep all photos unless they are blurry or insanely bad. In my head, that’s why they invented the Misc. folder.
It sounds like a Misc folder is the way to go…
I take ridiculous amounts of photos that I’m sure I don’t need. Like pictures of food that I make. And I keep them. For when my family whips out the “you never cook” card.
I need to start doing that! Actually, my food photos would be pathetic. As in ‘here is cereal I made. Oh! Here is what it looks like after I added milk. Let’s marvel at this…’
Ha! I love the dress picture & story, that just makes me giggle. I keep all my photos and back them all up every few months, even if most of them are random they’re still precious!!
Oh I giggled too. i mean, what do you even DO after you notice people have watched you take a picture of your crotch? Wave? Smile? Shrug? Someone needs to give me some advice because I (sadly) doubt that’s the last time I’m going to do that.
I upload them onto my Flickr anyway. Sometimes I mark them as private, just in case I don’t want anyone to see them just yet, but may want to make public in the future. Haha I’m a nerd.
That’s such a good idea. I need to start utilizing my flickr account.
I do this too….I just want to be one of those “cool people who take pictures”
EXACTLY.
I keep my photos forever. You never know when you will look back on them…
This makes sense…
1) Hope smells lemony.
2) You are Canadian. You are forbidden to own Obama paraphernalia.
3) Granny deletes stuff right and left. (She deals with clutter the same way.) So we do not have the problem of too many random pictures of crotches.
1. Hope smells like Change and change smells like vanilla.
2. I need to marry an American.
3. I like how you said ‘too many’, as in, you have just enough photos of crotches.
I think the Obama Rama air freshener pic is actually very well compositioned and it’s a great photo.
I think you are my favourite person today. Apparently flattery gets you everywhere with me. ;)
Haha
I don’t usually take “no home” pictures, but if I do, I delete them eventually.
I still like the idea of Maxie coming and sorting all mine for me.
I was guessing those were tickets given away to fill the seats of a screening of “I’m a celebrity, get me out of here…” and you apparently lost a bad bet to have “won” them all.
Don’t even make a joke. I’ve yet to watch that show. Not because I have any sort of standards when it comes to my television viewing, but mostly because I’m afraid if I start watching I will never stop.
Every real photographer knows that the perfect shot is 1/216 taken. So I have 216 pictures of lots of things on my computer. I usually delete the accidental crotch shots, though.
Lynn
Wow. I need to start taking way more photos!
Do they get that many on America’s Next Top Model? This could explain a lot!
Cute skirt. :)
I hate to admit it, but I’m scrapbooker…so a lot of my photos end up in albums. Those I don’t print and organize, I just save on my hard drive. You never know when you might need a picture of a grasshopper or baby tomato for something important…
Good point. Also, I think I could be a scrapbooker but I’m not sure I have the attention span. I do like the idea of fancy scissors though….
We are so not even going to talk about the masses of unorganized photos in my files…
This makes me feel better.
It’s so difficult organizing photos, isn’t it? I end up deleting some, but keeping tons. I have an external hard drive I keep them all on in chronological order so I know when they were taken and all that jazz…. I’m so dorky sometimes!
External hard drive. I need one.
I like so many things about your blog and I *just* started reading 10 minutes ago.
Aww thanks for stopping by!
one day i took my little puppy to work & was driving home with her in my lap. at the stop lights i would talk & pet her. now i wonder how many people thought i was carrying on a conversation with my crotch….
We should form a group for people who have appeared to do weird things with their crotches while driving.
That’s the weirdest sentence I’ve ever typed.
And here I am, afflicted with the issue of accidental photos of OTHER people’s crotches. I carry my camera with the strap over my shoulder like a purse, and that’s just the way it points. PROMISE.
Also, somewhat unrelated but appropriate for the support group: In high school my soccer team was riding a bus home from a game. We were on the highway and some of us looked over at a pickup in the next lane. The dude driving was naked and had a flashlight in his lap. And I’m scarred for life, obviously.
But see? You’re relatively far from weird now.
haha, love the obama rama air freshener. so awesome.
I bet you’re right. Hope smells like vanilla. I bet Obama smells like vanilla. That makes me want Obama in an ice cream cone!
And because I’m not a regular commenter, I suppose I shouldn’t stop there and try to make myself sound a little more normal.
I have lots of “no home” pics. I end up taking pictures of public bathroom graffiti all the time which isn’t that bad (a lot of them are hilarious) except I always try to take them in different angles. So I have wayy too many of them saved on my phone.
I’m not sure that helped make me sound more normal…
keep them forever.. its what photobucket is for.
love the obama air freshner…
xoxo, Lisa
Oh man I’m going to get flamed… but…
I expected the Obama air freshener to smell like chocolate!
I leave undesirable photos on my computer/camera/phone etc. for awhile and then just wipe them out. I like the idea of posting them on your blog for all the world to see. You’ve inspired me.
This is hysterical and I do the same thing! Mannnny random photos, and mannny different versions of them.. Well happy crotch-photography!
Crotchalicious, my dear. Love the skirt!
I’m loving the crotch shot. I bet those people thought you weren’t wearing anything below the belt. You showed them!
Thanks for this, perked up my Tuesday morning. I take loads of random stuff as well but only keep those I like. :)